Two Little Girls Send R2-D2 To The Edge Of Space

There's nothing the warms my geeky heart more than seeing kids embrace science and technology, which is exactly what two sisters decided to do a few weeks ago over Labor Day weekend. Eight year old Kimberly Yeung, and her sister -- Rebecca, age 10 -- decided to test the limits of their knowledge and learn a bit about space travel for fun, building a high altitude balloon that they call a "Loki Lego Launcher", their own personal spacecraft.

They sent the launcher 78,000 feet above earth, with two GoPro cameras attached, and captured a stunning view at the edge of our atmosphere -- with a photo of their cat, Loki, and a Lego R2D2 posing in front of the horizon.

"Our goal was to build a spacecraft and launch it into space," Rebecca explained of their project -- the first in a series of what they're calling the Yeung Stuff space program. "Or at least, as close to space as we could get!" quips her sister, as they two explain how their balloon came to be.

The sisters bought a parachute, weather balloon, and flight computer from High Altitude Science, also using wooden plank and broken arrow shafts (on top of being a scientist and programmer, Rebecca is also an archer -- easily beating out half of the adults I know in technical skills overall) to construct their balloon. They recorded data to learn more about our atmosphere, and how their balloon reacted to rising or falling temperatures.

While Artoo is no stranger to space, it sure is interesting to see these little geniuses building and experimenting at such a young age. They'd make fine little Imperial cadets (or future defectors that eventually served the Alliance), if I do say so myself!